Study on the Sustainable Development of an Arid Basin Based on the Coupling Process of Ecosystem Health and Human Wellbeing Under Land Use Change—A Case Study in the Manas River Basin, Xinjiang, China

Abstract

Due to the differences in the contributions of land use types to ecosystem health and human wellbeing, there is a trade-off and a coordinating relationship between ecosystem health and human wellbeing, which affects the sustainable development of a river basin. To explore the impacts of the responses of ecosystem health and human wellbeing and the combined effects under land use change, this paper, taking the Manas River Basin (MRB) as an example, evaluated the health status of the MRB by the model: Vitality (V), organization (O), resilience (R), and services (S). From a sustainability perspective, an index system of human wellbeing was constructed, which included society and the economy, health and safety, materials and resources, and ecology and the environment. On this basis, the coupling coordination relationship and sustainable development status of the basin was assessed. The results showed that as land use changed, the ecosystem health showed a downward trend, and human wellbeing grew exponentially. The sustainable development index and the coupling coordination degree of the MRB were similar, indicating that the level of balance between ecosystem health and human wellbeing was the key to the sustainable development of the basin, and the overall situation was in a state of moderate imbalance and moderate unsustainability. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out sustainable management of the whole basin.